The Line
by BlandImagination
Summary: A new team is being formed by the successful and prestigious professional coach, Maria Momoe. However, there's more to the tryouts than just demonstrating individual skill over the plate and in the field. Read about the athletes and the stories they tell for an interview on the first base line over how they came into baseball or what funny things they did in their adolescence.


**Wow, I'm back. If you're still reading my stories, then props to you. I'll be trying hard to constantly update this one as well as upload a Hanai/Tajima story I'm working on. But, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

In the midst of the suburbs in Saitama, Japan, a baseball stadium had fifty or more athletes gathered to try out for the new, prestigious baseball team being created by the famous woman coach, Momoe Maria. A head coach for many professional teams, Momoe had decided to form her own, new team and play ball with them permanently; no more job-jumping would be done.

She stood next to her assistant, Shiga Tsuyoshi, as they both intently studied the groups of young men looping through their batter's swings and throwing style. She had put them into groups of four, and each round they would be demonstrating their batting abilities and in others, their fielding skills. So far, the two observers had decided that they'd seen enough.

In the athlete's heads, however, they were all thinking the same things throughout the entire process:

_I hope I get this._

_How many people does she need?_

_Does she like me? Does she hate me?_

_They don't like the way I throw, they don't like the way I bat, they don't like the way I-_

Unfortunately for them, Momoe and Shiga had already made up their minds, and a whistle was blown, turning all the boys' heads towards the woman whom they were trying to impress.

"Alright, I'm eliminating down now. When I call out your number, please form a line on the first base line. Got it?" Momoe called out. In angst they all nodded their heads in understanding and waited for the churning in their stomachs to settle down.

"Alright…before I call out your numbers, I would like to congratulate you all on making it this far. Making the top fifty-something in a process that originally started out with about five-hundred applicants is amazing. But, without further ado, these people form a line…

number three, fourteen, twenty-one, and thirty-eight…let's see…forty-four and forty-five, eighty-seven, one-hundred-three, one-hundred-eighteen, two-hundred-nine, two-hundred-twenty-one, two-hundred-thirty, three-hundred-thirteen, three-hundred-eighty-seven, three-hundred-ninety-five, four-hundred-sixty-nine…and four-hundred-ninety-eight…the rest of you, thank you, but you've been cut. I'm sorry."

As the last few players lined up on the first base line, there was a wave of depression that crashed over the rest of the athletes as they packed their bags and begun to leave the stadium and back into the unforgiving world of rejection.

* * *

As the last athlete left the stadium the remaining seventeen were left alone under the bright lights, with no Momoe or Shiga to be seen.

"Alright athletes," a woman's voice boomed through the stadium speakers, "congratulations on making it this far. Now, I'll be conducting the rest of these try-outs as an interview from up here in the stands, so I want you to go down the line and say your name, age, what position you usually play, and where you're from."

Slightly startled, but not intimidated, the athletes straightened themselves to answer the mighty voice of Maria Momoe. After all, this was their chance to become part of an amazing team.

From Momoe's perspective, a tall, bald man took a step forward and spoke loud and clear, starting the whole interviewing process right away.

"My name is Hanai Azusa. I'm twenty-eight years old, I play right-field, and I was born and raised in Kasukabe, Saitama."

As he took a step back, the next athlete, a shaggy black-haired boy stepped forward. "I'm Takase Junta. I'm twenty-nine, I'm a pitcher, and I'm from Okinawa."

The next boy, slightly shorter than Takase and with shorter black hair came forward. "I'm Kanou Shuugo, I'm from Gunma, I'm also a pitcher, and I'm twenty-seven years old."

The very short athlete with freckles next to Kanou jumped forward and spoke much louder than the others. "Tajima Yuuichirou, I'm twenty-six years old, I camp out on third base and I'm from Saitama!"

The man next to him giggled slightly as he stepped forward and said, "I'm Sakaeguchi Yuuto. I come from Nagano and I'm twenty-seven…oh, and I play infield, usually second base."

As the blonde-haired man next to Sakaeguchi took a step forward he whined, "Can we move this a little faster? I'm Hamada Yoshirou, I play anything, I'm twenty-nine and I'm from Gunma."

"Kazuki Kawai, thirty, catcher, from Chiba." The next athlete, a large, muscular man gruffly announced.

The man next to Kazuki, another one of the taller athletes, just rolled his eyes and took his place in the light. "I'm Abe Takaya. I'm a catcher as well, I'm twenty-eight and I'm from Hokkaido." He said simply and took his spot back in the line.

"My name is Nakazawa Rio, I'm twenty-six, I play catcher, and I'm from Chiba." The orange-haired athlete said.

The next player, not quite as charismatic quietly announced that his name was Oki Kazutoshi, and that he was twenty-seven and he played first base while he lived in Kochi.

The other tall bald player stepped forward and cleared his throat. "I'm Suyama Shoji, I'm an infielder from Aichi, and I'm twenty-seven."

The next athlete who came forward shook his hair out of his eyes and said, "I'm Izumi Kousuke. I'm from Saitama, I'm twenty-six and I play outfield."

A strawberry-blonde came forward next and seemed a little confused as he announced: "I'm Mizutani Fumiki…from Saitama, I play left field and I'm…twenty-six!"

The next athlete, a very cold looking man snorted and spoke. "I'm Haruna Motoki. I'm a pitcher from Shizuoka and I'm twenty-nine."

The next boy to walk forward was rather skinny and didn't look like to type to be playing baseball. "Nishihiro Shintarou," he said, "twenty-five years old, and I'm usually a backup outfielder. I'm from Nagano."

A quieter blonde came forward and to reveal himself, although it was much harder for Momoe to hear him. She somehow managed to catch what he was saying though. "Mihashi Ren, twenty-six years old…p-pitcher from Gunma," he finished as he scurried back to his spot.

Finally, the last athlete to step forward, a brown-haired boy with glasses spoke. "I'm Akimaru Kyouhei, I play catcher, I'm twenty-eight, and I was born in Nagasaki but raised in Fukushima."

As Akimaru was about to step back into line, Momoe stopped him. "Keep going, Akimaru." She insisted.

"…what do you mean?" He replied.

"Well, what did you do in Fukushima?" Momoe pressed.

"Um…I don't really know. It's Fukushima, all there really is to do is fish, but the water's pretty sketchy from all the environmental disasters going on. What were you expecting?"

"Hm…anything else you did there?"

"Well…I, um…look I can't do this right now. I can act really well, but I can't just talk…I just need some time."

* * *

Momoe sighed and spoke through the speakers, this time to the whole line. "Listen, I'm looking for a team of ten amazing young men who can work together like a well-oiled machine and can play from their souls. I have your pictures and resumes; I know what teams you've all been on and what tournaments you've attended, but that doesn't really help me in a situation like this. That's why I want you to just talk, so I can get a feel for your personalities and see who can work well with whom. So, I want you to all just relax as best as you can, and just talk. Now, Akimaru, back in line."

"Well yeah, but-"

"Back in line. We'll try this again later."

Sighing in apprehension over possibly blowing his chances with the coach, the brown-haired catcher slowly took some steps back into the line.

"Now, let's see…" Momoe pondered out loud as she scanned the line. "Kanou, let's start with you."

Shocked, the pitcher looked around to see if he had heard correctly. "Me?"

"That's what I said."

"B-But don't you want to start at the end?" Kanou tried to persuade, gesturing to his right.

"No, I want to start with you."

The black-haired boy sighed. "Alright…well, what would you like to know?"

Even though none of them could see her, Momoe shrugged. "What would you like to tell me?"

"…Well, I'd like to tell you to start at the end," Kanou laughed. After thinking for a little bit he just shook his head. "I can't think of anything!" He whined.

"Well, tell me how you first got into baseball."

"Alright…well here's how it went down…" Kanou began.

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